Sandra Joireman

The Hall of Honor Committee has asked current Clinton High School students to interview the 2019 living inductees and write a press release to share with you.  The 2019 Induction ceremony is Friday, April 12 and is open to the public.  Reservations may be made to Deb Deters, ddeters@clintonia.org.

Clinton High Humanitarian Inductee into the Academic Hall of Honor

By Grace Tubbs

This year Clinton High School is finally beginning to not only honor the prestigious athletes that went through the school, but is giving the deserved recognition to the academic successes who have graduated from Clinton High in 1986. Sandra Fullerton Joireman is being honored as the first humanitarian in the Academic Hall of Fame. A humanitarian is someone who puts others before themselves. Her basic biography explains that she has published numerous books and articles in the fields of property rights, poverty, and war in developing countries. Mrs.Joireman also holds a high position at the University of Richmond as Weintein Chair of International Studies, Professor of Political Science, and Associate Provost for Faculty.

Associate Provost of Faculty, dealing with books on war and property rights in developing countries, at first may go way over your head, as it did mine, but I had the pleasure of speaking with Mrs. Joireman and it became clear that her job is very interesting and this humanitarian honor is much deserved. She teaches comparative politics classes, not about what is happening in the U.S., but instead in what is happening in developing countries such as Uganda and Kosovo.  Not only does she teach about these places but she often visits them. After a war, someone must restore properties to their owners and resolve property laws. This is exactly what Joiremne does. She mentioned places like Kenya, Uganda, and Kosovo, places where they need help in very specific areas like property rights, where Joireman specializes and  offers a lot of help. She answers the questions like, “Who owns that?” in a post conflict setting. Not only does she teach, travel, and publish, she is also the Associate Provost for Faculty, which involves managing faculty, hiring, and faculty development.

Not only did I learn about Joireman’s career and humanitarian endeavors, I also got to hear about her life before graduation and about what Clinton High was like for her. Joireman cited theater and musicals as her favorite extracurricular activities. She focused on intellectual activities as opposed to athletics. She enjoyed being senior class president and being able to have a voice within the school and with the board. She used her voice to get Robert Ray as her graduation speaker, whether the principal liked it or not. Joireman also had the amazing experience of studying in France as an exchange student for a year. After seeing what the world could offer, Joireman knew Iowa was too small a place for her, so she decided to attend Washington University. When asked about which teachers had the greatest impact on her through her schooling she mentioned Mrs. King, an English teacher. Mrs. King did a peculiar activity in which the students were given a book to read based on their personality, once she knew them well enough, Joireman was skeptical of this at first but was introduced to her favorite book through the venture. Joireman also said that this teacher was always pushing her to be curious.

Mrs. King must have left an impression on Joireman about being curious. “Be curious and act on it” is the advice Mrs. Joireman wants to give her students. “There is a big world and so many opportunities and so many things you might love. It’s hard to fathom but do things that are hard and weird to find them.” This is what she wants to advise those trying to figure what they want in life.

By definition a humanitarian is someone seeking to promote human welfare. Sandra Joireman is helping and promoting something hardly anyone knows is even a problem or rarely pays attention to. With all of the accolades and honors Joireman has received, it’s no wonder she was the first one chosen to be inducted into the academic hall of fame and especially for something as noble as being a humanitarian. Being inducted into the hall of fame means a lot to Joireman. She said, “It shows how important academics really are and it shows how many different paths one can take after graduation”.